I went out to check on my quail this morning like always, and one was hiding underneath her house, unmoving. She was still alive, but she couldn't walk and wasn't really responding to my presence. I picked her up, and she just wasn't able to keep her head up, it kept drooping down.
She ended up passing, did she break her neck?
My wife and I are super excited. We added the Northern Bobwhite to our Life List. There used to be a lot of them here in Arkansas but they were nearly hunted out and there are conservation measures in place to bring them back. Our homestead sits on an acre of the family farm surrounded by cattle fields edged by tree lines and a creek on one side. We picked up the quail on Merlin and then spotted him with binoculars. He’s been out there calling for a mate for about two weeks now. How can we help him attract a lady?
Hey everyone,
I’m getting ready to set up my very first covey of Coturnix quail here in the UK Midlands. The goal is a low-maintenance, sustainable setup for backyard eggs (maybe meat in future) that also gives me great compost for my fruit/veg garden.
I’ve done a bit of reading and with help from AI, come up with a hybrid hutch-and-run plan to deal with my specific garden layout. Before I start buying the gear and building, I’d love to get some experienced eyes on this setup to see if I've missed anything!
Location: Backyard urban garden. I am removing a section of AstroTurf to get down to the hardcore sub-base.
Ground Security: Laying a geotextile membrane directly over the sub-base (for drainage), topped with a completely flat floor of 13mm x 13mm (0.5" x 0.5") galvanized wire mesh pinned down to completely stop rats/mice digging up from underneath.
The Run & Hutch Dimensions
The Run: A folding wooden run measuring 200cm L x 114cm W x 53cm H (approx. 23 sq ft footprint). Wire mesh is 13mm x 13mm.
The Hutch: A hideaway sleeping box measuring 50cm L x 42.5cm W x 44cm H sitting flush on the run floor. Entrance is 17cm wide x 25cm tall.
Target Flock Size: Starting small with 6 to 8 birds (plenty of room for them in 23 sq ft).
Solving the "Flush Hazard" & Flooring
Because 53cm is a dangerous medium height for quail to launch and break their necks, I am doing the following:
I'm filling the bottom of the run with a 10cm layer of topsoil and straw to run a bioactive Deep Litter System. This naturally drops the overhead clearance to around 43cm, preventing them from building up dangerous launch velocity.
I'll be securing a layer of fruit netting or fabric loosely underneath the wire roof mesh as a safety bumper just in case.
The top of the run will be fitted with clear plastic covers to keep the deep litter completely dry from the lovely UK rain.
Interior Layout & Enrichment
Feed/Water: Using a DIY plastic port feeder (to stop them shoveling food out) and an elevated nipple/cup waterer so they don't scratch straw into their drinks.
Enrichment: A designated cat-litter tray filled with coarse builders' sand and wood ash for dust bathing. I'm also adding logs, rocks, and upturned pots/branches/logs for hiding spots so they feel secure from overhead predators.
How does this sound for a beginner set up? Any glaring issues with the dimensions, or tweaks I should make? Any pointers welcome. Thanks in advance!
Every time I pick him up he seems to sneeze? I'm not sure if his bedding is dusty maybe? They're currently on sand. I'm not sure what other details I should add. He's around 1-2 years old. Sometimes his crows get raspy. :( the vets here are awful with birds
Hi! I've been raising quails for about 2 years and I've never seen this happen. It looks like the egg shell did not properly form and a bit of the membrane got dragged out. The "ink" for the shell pattern seems to have all been concentrated at the top as well.
All my hen are acting normal and I can't tell which one laid it. Has anyone experienced this and should I be concerned for their health??
Thank you!
It's always the first one to fly out of the box, then cries to get back inside. There is a clear plastic window on the front so they can watch Netflix at bedtime! There are 3 snowflakes that were born 10 days before their siblings, but they all get along together very well and the little ones try to imitate their elders.
Welp I always preferred to tractor stuff but for a few reasons, mainly this heat ( it's friggen 90° in the shade ) and the desire to collect there poop for compost decided to at least try one of these to see what would happen. Took some temps and it's generally a lil coolers about 4' up vs right on the ground .
But PVC coated hardware cloth , lots of walking space , gonna have an enclosed area probably gonna add a solar fan ... It's a little on the high side but I've legitimately never had any quail flush our of the 80 or so Ive raised and my tractors are 3' and 6' high so idk ...maybe it's because there cage raised .... Anyhow till gotta get it on its legs , ass the roof and I'm debating doing a hot wire off them.
Anyhow fun project so far h ck of alot cheaper to build these things the way you want vs buying them too 🤣
I have these 5 week old bobwhite quail. This one started doing this sometime between this morning and now. Do you think it’s just an injury somehow? She walks fine when the leg is under her. I’m worried since it’s been nuclear hot here in northeast Ohio (we are on day 4). I have a fan outside the coop blowing in as well as multiple flat trays of cool water. I went in to replace the trays with fresh water this afternoon and saw it doing this.
Well very first traditional hutch is all done ! Think it came out pretty decent.
Hello! Amateur quail owner here. I have 6 coturnix quail that I obtained about 5 months ago. My neighbor got tired of feeding them and released them. I caught them in live traps when they came around my chicken coop looking for food. For this reason I don’t know how old they are, and I’m not really even sure how many hens/roosters I have. They all get along in a big outdoor coop and since they have a big feeder and a big waterer, they often go several days without me bothering them (they hate me.)
Anyways, my question is, should I have taken these eggs? I was so surprised when I found 2 eggs in there a few weeks ago on the ground, and now I come out today and they seem to have literally built a nest and gone to town. There was no hen with the eggs but like I said, they hate me, so they fled when I entered the coop. It seems like too many for them to be brooding on but I have no idea what I’m doing, so I thought I’d ask. They went so long without laying eggs that I thought they must be too old, but I guess not!
I was trying to avoid a “what color is this” post but here we are lol. I’ve looked at a million photos and I give up trying to ID. This is one of my Roos that came from a mix batch of Pansy Fee/Pearl Fee, the closest things I found was German pansy or pansy/pearl but without the fee but I can’t tell for sure which one. Would anyone know what I could expect from the batch if I breed him with my Pansy Fees or American Pansy?
Automatic cat feeders and a water reservoir with gravity fill cups. I've since added some hides/wooden perches and a fan for this heat wave.
My king (button) quail setup was 1M:4F, living peacefully for over a year. A week ago, 1 hen passed away, leaving it at 1M:3F. Out of nowhere the male started plucking the remaining 3 hens. It happened VERY FAST.
It was so fast that by the time i discovered it and managed to order a new cage to separate the male, all 3 hens were already plucked completely bare on their backs…. But the male doesn't chase them frantically, he just casually follows them and yanks feathers out one by one.
I genuinely don't understand the reason behind this 😢?? I feel so bad for them... Should i add a new hen to bring the ratio back to 1M:4F. Will this help dilute his attention when I reintroduce him later?
it’s 2 days old and standing tall and making crow noises occasionally, why is it doing this? it’s the only one out of 3 that are. theirs a heated side, cool side, water, and grounded up food. this is SO odd, i had a quail with the same patterns experience early crowing aswell but like.. why
Howdy all, this is my first time posting here!
I recently moved into a home in the SLC area of Utah, and lo and behold there seem to be a couple of families of quail which live in the thickets that are between my property and my neighbors'. We've fallen in love with them, but know basically just that they're California quail, and that's about it. I do also know that here it's illegal to try and keep/domesticate them, so building a hutch or something along those lines seems to be out of the picture.
What I would love is some information and pointers on how to make our yard quail-friendly; we've already had one unfortunate run-in with chicks finding the basement window wells, and I've started doing research on plants they might like and materials to cover the window wells, but id definitely benefit from any information or insight folks can share as to helping keep the little guys safe and happy in our yard.
Thank you in advance!